Snow falling

Korean countryside with gardens of food everywhere. Love the architecture and rooftops! Green houses are everywhere-even in the heart of the city.
More gardens out the car window, along with some views of the landscape. This was a clear day but some days tthe air quality is so poor that you cannot see this view at all. The golden color here is a rice field.

Dinner in Chinatown in Incheon. Lots of red and very festive. But the food is still Korean, even if they call it Chinese!

Photo below: The GPS system (which plays Korean TV constantly-a laugh a minute!) on the dash of Mr.Park's car. We watch it on the long rides back and forth to work. Usually either slapstick humor, melodramatic soap-like things, or mundane life things-a child eating noodles and getting them all over his face, or making art (with designs made out of whipped cream) on cappucinos, or who knows, maybe I'm missing the significance since it's all in Korean?


Hello one and all,

I'm looking forward to more snow today. Or so the forecast says. I hear it never accumulates here in Incheon but it is beautiful and magical to watch it fall-especially when you know you won't have to clean it up!

Last night I made it to the Center for Non-Violent Communication in Seoul that I discovered online back in July. It was a process getting there but I'm hoping to be able to attend the Wednesday night English practice group regularly from now on. The woman who started the center, Katherine Singer, is a Korean who has been living near Santa Barbara for 40 years. She returned to Seoul 5 years ago and opened the center. It seems to be thriving and there are offices and teaching spaces for several trainers (none certified yet). She was as thrilled to have me there as I was to be there-a peer. She has not been promoting the center to English speakers since she has had her hands full working with Koreans. She has translated Marshall's book into Korean as well as the Grok card game. She called me a "God-send" and treated me to dinner. I see that I can move towards completing my certification as a trainer with CNVC while here this year, doing Introductions to NVC in English out of her center to support its growth, and support her focus on working with the Koreans.

I volunteered to Co-chair a 12 step conference that will happen on May, 23 in Seoul. I will also be handling the food for the event. So grateful for my experience cooking common meals at FrogSong, which makes menu planning, shopping, and cooking for 100 seem effortless (I will, of course, have lots of volunteers to do the chopping, dish washing, etc.). It feels great to be making a contribution and giving back to this community that has meant so much to me here already and we are having a great time too!

Just this morning I got a new tilt on the book I'm planning on writing-listening to the body. Realized that my time here is already one-sixth of the way gone and I have yet to get started on that project, although I have been studying for the Clinical Aromatherapy exam, which I had decided would be my first priority. I do manage to keep getting distracted with social things though, even here where I haven't known anybody (although I have the beginnings of a few close friendships now).

One of the schools I'm teaching at wants me to teach English to the teachers privately after work. In order to do this, I need permission from my employer though so we shall see. I might as well work since my pay has been cut in half (due to the dollar rising in value here). Would someone explain this to me? How can the dollar rise when the American economy is collapsing? And why does it make the won go down in value so much that Korean businessmen are committing suicide?

I found Adams natural peanut butter (the crunchy version) on Sunday at a grocery store in Seoul where many foreigners shop. Now I believe I will survive my time in Korea. But seriously, I was amazed at how happy I felt as a result of having peanut butter to spread on apples and celery. Ah, life's simple pleasures...

Wishing you all a delightful and cozy Thanksgiving, filled with love and simple pleasures.

With a very grateful heart,
Terri
P.S. I'm posting more photos. These are still from the first outing that I described in an earlier post. Trying to get caught up and figure out this system. Hope to have the photos and the words match in the future. More about Korea, and more photos, soon.